Winding machine



y 11933- E. J. ABBOTT 1,911,047

WINDING MACHINE Original Filed Oct. 15, 1930 4 Sheets-Sheet l I Inventor; Edward JA! &0 z, W- W I May 23, 1933. J ABBOTT 1,911,047

WINDING MACHINE Original Filed Oct. 15, 1930 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Inventor; Edward JA &

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May 23, 1933. ABBOTT 1,911,047

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Patented May 23, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFEQE EDWARD J. ABBOTT, 0F WILTON, NEW/V I-ZAMPSHIRE, ASSIGNOR TO ABBOTT MACHINE COMPANY, OF HILTON, NEW HAMPSHIRE, A CQRPORATION OF NEVI HAMPSHIRE \VIKDING MACHINE Original application filed October 15, 1930, Serial. No. 488,880. Divided and this application filed November 534, 1931.

This application is a division of my application Serial No. 488,889, filed October 15, 1930. This invention relates to textile machines and is particularly applicable to machines having circulatory carriers for winding yarn masses, and mechanism for winding yarn on the masses during circulatory motion of the carriers to form traverse-wound headless self-sustaining package or cheeses, such for example as disclosed in my Patent No. 1,609,639, the patent of E. J. and 1V. G. Abbott, No. 1,700,425, and my co-pending application, Serial No. 476,776, entitled Method and machine for preparing yarn packages, filed August 21, 1930.

In winding machines such as are described in the above patents and applications, the several circulatory carriers successively pass a point at which all or most of all of the operations of replenishment and supervision of winding are carried out, either manually or by automatic devices, as in the above patent No. 1,7 00,425. During the passage about such a point, which may conveniently be the end of the machine, the winding operation on the given carrier will normally be suspended.

It is the principal object of this invention to provide improved mechanism for causing a controlled and regulated starting of wind ing in such a way as to avoid breakage of the strand material to be wound.

Other objects of the invention, advantages and structural improvements will appear from consideration of this specification and its drawings, wherein a machine embodying the present invention is explained by way of example in the drawings:

Fig. l is a side elevation of a winding machine to which the present invention is applicable Fig. 2 is a plan view of the machine of Fig. 1, with many parts removed for clarity of illustration;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of one of the circulatory winding carriers of the machine with the yarn package of the carrier encountering the winding package starter of the present invention;

Fig. 4 is avertical section illustrating the Serial No. 577,054.

devices of Fig. 3, taken on the line 4'4 of I follower used to control the movement of a.

yarn package to winding position;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary view, in plan, of the traversing slider of the winding carrier, and a portion of its guide rod; and

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary view in vertical section showing the slider of Fig. 6 and its relation to the traverse cam of one of the traveling winding carriers.

Figs. 1 and 2 illustrate the machine in its preferred form, which in the general arrangement of its parts and in general function may resemble the machines disclosed in the above-mentioned patents and applications. Thus in common with these machines the'present machine includes a guideway,

constituted of upper and lower rails 4 and 7 5 mounted on upright frame elements, a plurality of carrlers 10 for the yarn being operated on, (one only of these carriers being shown 111 Fig. 1), and a drive chain 30 run-,

ning on sprocket wheels 36, 36 for causing the carrier to travel in the path defined by the guideway. Suitable driving connections for rotating sprocket wheel 36 may include (as more fully described in my application, Serial No. 476,776) an electric motor 11 connected by a belt 15 to a pulley 14 adapted to drive a countershaft 13, which countershaft in turn operates through a pulley 45, belt 44, and a pulley 43 to rotate a shaft 39. The driving connections may also include a train of gearing constituted of gear wheels 38, 37, 35, worm 28 and a worm wheel 27 adapted to drive a vertical shaft 10 which is fast to the sprocket wheel 36.

A suit-able carrier 10 for the yarn may in- V elude an upright plate 60 adapted to bridge the distance between the rails 4 and 5, provided at its upper end with an upper head portion. 65 (Fig. 3) carrying anti-friction rolls 97 adapted to roll on rail 4; the lower I thereto a pair of vertical side plates 66 and 67. Plate 66 preferably extends upward as indicated at 68 and is provided at its upper end with a suitable bearing adapted to receive the bifurcated end of a package-carrying arm 71 pivotally mounted thereon, to swing transversely to the direction of movement of the carrier. The winding package C is adapted to be formed upon a tube or cone 72 rotatably carried by a spindle 72 which is suitably clamped in the outer or free end of the arm 71.

The lower portion of the plate 60 of the carrier 10 is preferably provided with a spindle 122 adapted to carry a supply package or unwinding mass of yarn S. From such supply package or mass, the strand of yarn Y is shown conducted upward between suitable guide wires 396 and 397, between tension disks 380 and 381, and between the opposed blades 100 and 401 of a slub catcher to the winding package, these devices being conveniently mounted on a cover plate 110 of the carrier.

Means is provided for rotating the winding package of yarn as the carrier progresses along the guideway, and by way of example such means is shown as comprising a pair of rotary drive rolls 50, 51, mounted in bearing housings 52, 52 (Fig. 1) and disposed above the straight portions of the rail 4 in position to contact with and rotate the winding package O. Suitable driving connections for these rolls may comprise bevel gearing contained within the bearing housings 52 and operativelly connected to the previously described shaft The illustrated embodiment of the invention is particularly adapted for the winding of headless, self-sustaining Fiji packages or cheeses consisting of layers of reversed spiral windings, with the cusps formed by the reversals of the spirals defining the end faces of the package. This manner of winding necessitates a rapidly moving traverse device adapted to engage the yarn strand Y as it approaches the winding mass. 7 Such a device is shown herein as atraverse cam 70 (Fig. 3) rotatably mounted between the plates 66 and 67 of the carrier and spirally grooved to receive and drive the pivoted dog 100 of a follower 101 (Figs. 6 and 7), which is slidably mounted on a horizontal rod 100 (Figs. 3, 1, 6 and 7), and which carries an upwardly extending grooved eye 106 engageable with the yarn strand. Suitable driving connections for the traverse cam may include tires 71 thereon which engage and are turned by drive rolls 50 and 51 successively, as the carrier moves around the guideway.

In the travel of the carriers around the guideway it is desirable to stop the driving of the winding yarn mass and traversing of the yarn so as to permit the performance of replenishment operations with respect to the yarn masses on the carriers, either manually, or automatically as in the machine of Patent No. 1,700,425. Preferably the stoppage of driving for these purposes is controlled by means responsive to the attainment by the carrier of a predetermined point on the guideway, or responsive to the completion by the carrier of apredetermined course of travel. Means for causing such cessation of driving and traversing may comprise a dog 362 carried in an enlarged head 360 of a horizontal shaft 303 on the carrier and adapted to strike in passing, and to be rotated by, a pin 307 extending from the guideway, thus to turn the shaft 303 and a crank 302 to raise a lifter rod 301 and swing the package carrying arm 71 and package C away from the drive roll, into a raised position such as is indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 1. The package of any given carrier may, previous to this point, have already been raised into the same inactive position, as by any of the operations of breakage or exhaustion detectors, for example, those described in my copending applications Serial Nos. 476,776 and 488,889. In any event, each carrier will pass around the left end of the machine of Fig. 1 with its package-carrying spindles 72 elevated and swung outwardly, as in the dotted line position of Fig. 4:.

Upon the carrier passing the curved portion of the guideway, at which an operator is stationed, or automatic replenishing mechanism is provided, with the arm 71 in the elevated dotted line position of Fig. 4, he machine is adapted to resume winding of the package (by which I intend to include the initiation of winding of a new package or empty core substituted for a full package) and also to resume traversing of the yarn strand Y. The mechanical connections between the shaft 303 and the package-carrying arm 71 are suitable to cooperate in this function by acting in the reverse direction to swing the arm 71 in a counter-clockwise direction as viewed in Fig. 1. For instituting this motion, the enlarged head 360 of shaft 303 may be provided with acam follower 374 (Fig. 5) projecting toward'the guideway and adapted to strike in passing and be rotated by an inclined cam surface 371 of a cam 370 fastened to the rail 1. TVith such an arrangement, forward motion of the carrier (to the rightin Fig. 3) results in a counterclockwise rotation of the head 360 and shaft 303 sufficient to move the package or cheese G toward driven position, past the cent-er of the pivotal connection of the arm 71. From thence, gravity may be relied upon to restore the package into driven position; but to check the fall of the package the cam 370 is preferably provided with a cam surface 3'72 engageable with a cam follower projection 375 on the head 360, so as to check the rotation of head 360 and shaft 303,

this resulting in a controlled lowering of the package into contact with the drive r-olll It is desirable before rapid driving of the package is reinstituted, that any slack in the yarn strand leading thereto be taken up and that the package be set in rotation to prevent breakage of the yarn strand when rapid driving commences. To this end, my

invention provides an improved package starter, 'actuable to initiate rotation of the package, preferably upon shifting of the package toward driven or active position.

In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, such package starter is shown in its preferred arrangement as disposed to act on the yarn packages of successive carriers regardless of the sizes of the packages. The starter 90 is shown as comprised of a sheet metal plate pivotally suspended from a pin 91 retained by a bracket 92 mounted on an arm 93 which is suitably carried by another bracket indicated generally at 94 and afliXed to the rail 4. The starter 90 thus yieldingly hangs in the dotted line position of Fig. at intersecting the path of movement of yarn packages approaching the drive roll. As a package is swung downwardly in Fig. 4, its periphery is frictionally engaged by starter 90 and the package is turned in the proper direction to wind yarn thereon, thus taking up slack yarn before rapid rotation is imparted to the package by the drive roll. A bar 90 fastened to and extending downwardly from the pivoted starter 90 adds to the inertion of this member and also acts to check its downward swing by striking against roll 50 or some other part of the machine. Preferably the portion 90 of the starter at its left side as Viewed in Figs. 1 and 3, (which is the side from which the carriers approach), is bent back on an incline (see Fig. 4) to avoid any danger of this edge of the starter jamming against the end face of a package or against the outer end of the package-carrying arm 71 and its spindleholding attachments. The spindle 7 2 is shown in a split block 71 at the end of arm 71; this block is of substantial size in order adequately to retain the spindle and also to add to the weight holding the package in contact with the drive roll. In general, the block 71 will extend farther from the axis of rotation of arm 71 than does the periphery of the usual winding core or tube 72*. In the case of small or initially starting winding packages, the inclined surface 90 of the starter assures that the block 71" will not catch on the edge of the starter.

The package starter is adapted to accommodate and react on various sizes of packages C, from a package comprised only of the core 72 and starting winding thereon, to a large almost completed package. The position of the starter 90 with relation to the cam which swings the packages into contact with the drive roll should be such that as the pack- I Vhen the winding package C is movedv from its inactive position into its driven or winding position (in the present instance, into contact with the drive roll 50 or 51), it is desirable that the package attain a certain speed before the traverse mechanism begins to operate on the yarn; otherwise the rapidly moving traverse device would tend to traverse the yarn at too high respect to the speed of rotation of the package and thus produce windings of less than the desired.

strength and axial cohesion.

My copending application, Serial No. 476,- 776, discloses two species of devices for preventing such undesired winding, first the provision of suitable means for delaying actuation or driving of the traverse device until after winding has commenced, for example by means of a cam adapted to hold the traverse cam temporarily out of engagement with the drive roll, and second, the provision of means on the carrier, controlled by a stationary abutment on the guideway, for holding the yarn strand Y out of contact with the traverse device until the carrier has reached a point at which the winding package will have accelerated sufficiently for traversing to be begun. The machine of the present application is shown as equipped with a device similar in function to these previously described devices, but capable of improved and more delicate operation in delaying the traversing until the winding package has attained a speed commensurate with proper laying of the yarn thereon.

Referring to Figs. 1, 3 and 4, a balance wire 201 having its forward end 201 bent into the general direction of movement of the carriers is yieldingly mounted so that this forward end occupies a position intersecting the path of the yarn strand Y as the latter approaches the traverse eye 106. The balance wire may conveniently be mounted by being supported as shown in a suitable bearing 200 on the bracket 94. and by having associated therewith a suitable adjustable weight 203 tending to hold the forward end 201 of the wire up. The wire is of such shape as to clear passing carriers and is preferably bent downwardly at 205 so that the forward part 201 may swing down to a level below the'top of the adjacent drive roll. As the package C is shifted from its inactive position toward the drive roll (and the strand of yarn Y accordingly moved toward the traverse eye 106) the yarn strand is laid by such motion over the end part 201 of the balance wire, and retained by tl e balance wire out of contact with the traverse eye 106. The yarn package is then accelerated by the drive roll which causes yarn to be unwound over the end of the supply bobbin S (Fig. 1). The unwinding yarn forms the well-known balloon as it leaves the bobbin, thus setting up a resistance to yarn motion sufiicient to thread the yarn between the tension disks 380, 381 it not already there. The combined resistance to yarn movement a'l'l orded by such balloon etlect and the tension device causes the moving yarn strand to tighten and thereby depress the balance wire. Upon the balance wire being depressed to the dotted line position in Fig. r, the yarn strand Y is at a level at which it can be picked up by the reciprocating traverse cye 106. Thus the described device causes a delay in traversing of the yarn, the delay being timed with respect to the instant of engagement of the package with the drive roll, regardless of the diameter of the package or of the exact position of the carrier (hingitudinally of the roll) at which the package contacts with the roll. The position and mass of weight 203 may be adjusted to cause the desired delay in initiating traversing.

While for simplicity I have described and illustrated cooperating devices adapted to react on the carriers and yarn packages at the end of the machine at which replenishment operations are effected, it is within the intent of my invention to provide other similar devices at the opposite end of the machine to brake rotation of the yarn packages, restart the packages rotating for winding and control initiating of traversing with respect to initiating of windin It should be understood that the present disclosure is "for the purpose or" illustration only and that this invention includes all modifications and equivalents which fall within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a textile machine, a drive roll, a support for holding a yarn package alternatively in driven contact with said drive roll and in an inactive position apart therefrom, guide means for guiding a yarn strand to said package asthe package is driven by the roll, a traverse device positioned to engage said yarn strand when the yarn package is in contact w'th the drive roll and to be disengaged from the strand wien the package occupies its inactive position, a strand-engaging element, and means for yieldingly mounting said element normally to occupy a position intersecting the path of a yarn strand approaching the traverse device, theelement being movable by the pull of the yarn to per mit engagement of the yarn with the traverse device, the inertial resistance of said element to such movement being such that the yarn package is accelerated by the drive roll before the yarn is engaged by the traverse dev1ce.

2. In a winding machine, the combination with a traverse device, drive means for rotating a winding package of yarn and means for starting the driving of the package and moving the yarn strand into engagement with the traverse device, of a balance element normally occupying a position to intersect the path of movement of a yarn strand approaching the traverse device, and adapted to be deflected by the yarn strand, the inertial resistance or said balance element being sutiicient to delay the engagement of the strand with the traverse device.

3. A winding machine having therein .a plurality of carriers each including means for holding a winding yarn package, means for moving the carriers in a predetermined path, rotary package driving means extending along a part of said path, traverse mechanism on the several carriers, means for shifting the yarn packages on the carriers severally out of and into contact with said package driving means, to stop and start winding at respective places in said path, the path of the winding yarn being such as to leave the traverse mechanism upon stoppage of winding and to return to the traverse mechanism upon starting of winding, in combination with means located at the place of starting of winding for imparting winding rotation to suecessive winding packages as they shifttoward the package driving means, and means for intercepting the strands of successive carriers and delaying their engagement with their traverse mechanisms until after the respective package has begun to be driven by said package driving means.

Signed by me at Milford, New Hampshire, this 21st day of November 1931.

EDWVARD J. ABBOTT. 

